Victoria’s Childcare Review
The Rapid Child Safety Review has made 22 recommendations, all of which the Victorian government will adopt, to keep early learners safer in the Education State.
BY HEJIRA CONVERY, KINDICARE
Governments often move slowly when making decisions and taking action, but this is not the case in Victoria today, where the government has quickly accepted all 22 recommendations made by the Rapid Child Safety Review.
These recommendations aim to improve child safety in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, sooner rather than later, and here are five key changes the Review will bring about:
1. By the end of this year, the government will set up a new early childhood education and care regulator.
This independent regulator will have strengthened authority to regulate early childhood services under the National Law, and it will conduct compliance checks at services more than twice as often, so that checks happen at least once a year.
2. The Working with Children Check scheme will also be strengthened.
Every person who applies for Working with Children clearance will have to complete online child safety training and testing.
It will also be easier for a Working with Children clearance to be revoked or suspended.
And anyone who’s had their clearance refused, revoked or suspended will lose their review rights.
3. By the end of 2025, the Social Services Regulator will be beefed up.
In a bid to stop information slipping through the cracks, the Working with Children Check, Reportable Conduct Scheme and Child Safe Standards will be brought into the Social Services Regulator ‘under one roof’.
The Regulator will also get extra powers which allow it to take into account unsubstantiated allegations and intelligence when deciding whether to grant clearances and proactively share that information with other regulators.
4. There are moves to help ECEC workers and parents feel confident raising safety concerns.
The government will take action to introduce national mandatory child safety training for all ECEC workers; and professional support programs will be expanded to build a greater culture of speaking up.
The government will also work with experts to give parents and care-givers advice and online training around child safety, including how to raise safety concerns.
5. At the same time, the Victorian government is calling on the Australian government to do more.
Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan says, “This is a national system that requires a national response”, and her government is pushing for a change to the National Law so that:
- A national Early Childhood Worker Register is established, and
- Childcare operators who breach the Law face higher penalties.
Over the longer term, Victoria is also calling for the Commonwealth to fundamentally reform the national ECEC system, with a priority on quality and safety.
